100,000 people died on August 6th, 1945 at 8:15 AM in Hiroshima. The United States just dropped an atomic bomb in Japan. Less than a year after the attack, New Yorker journalist John Hersey interviewed many people, but decided to focus on just six individuals. Hiroshima explores the lives of six people during the atomic bomb: Hatsuyo Nakamura, a mother; Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, a young surgeon; Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, a priest; Toshiko Sasaki, a young clerk; Dr. Masakazu Fujii, a physician; and Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a pastor. I don’t want to spoil the book for you, so I have decided to include some Fun Facts.Did you know?1. For decades, the mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba wrote letters of protest each time a nuclear test was conducted, as a plea to end the use of nuclear weapons?2. After the first Hiroshima atomic bombing in Japan, one Hiroshima policeman went to Nagasaki to teach police about ducking after the atomic flash. As a result of this timely warning, not a single Nagasaki policeman died in Nagasaki’s atomic blast.3. In 1945, a man named Tsutomu Yamaguchi survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima, dragged himself into an air-raid shelter, spent the night there, in the morning caught a train so he could arrive at his job on time in Nagasaki, where he survived another atomic blast.4. The oleander is the official flower of the city of Hiroshima because it was the first thing to bloom again after the explosion of the atomic bomb in 1945.5. “Hiroshima shadows”: When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the intensity of the blast was of such intensity that it permanently burned shadows of people and objects into the ground.6. “Horton Hears a Who” was an allegory about Hiroshima and the America’s occupation of Japan and may have been Dr. Seuss’s way of apologizing for his support of Japanese Internment.7. Godzilla was created by Japan as a reaction to the bombings of Hiroshima, the monster itself spawning as a result of the nuclear detonations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki8. The USA originally denied that atomic bombs caused any lingering radioactivity whatsoever, calling such claims as Japanese propaganda. Even New York Times ran an article with the headline “NO RADIOACTIVITY IN HIROSHIMA RUIN,” citing only military sources and ignoring eyewitness accounts of radiation sickness.

Once upon a time, in a little hole in the Shire, lived a peaceful hobbit by the name of Frodo Baggins. Frodo lived a normal life with his friends, until one day, his uncle Bilbo entrusted to him his old ring. But little did either of them know that the ring was more than a pretty piece of jewelry. In days of old, it was the One Ring, the Ring of Power. Sauron used this ring to wreak havoc across middle earth, but was eventually defeated. But now, in the dark land of Mordor, he has risen again in the form of a great eye, perched on top of a sleek, black tower. Now Frodo, along with his faithful friends, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, must take the ring into the Crack of Doom to destroy it. In the first installment of this epic tale, Frodo meets men, elves, and dwarves. He discovers new friends, as well as new enemies. Follow Frodo across Middle Earth as he attempts to carry the ring to Mordor. Will he do it?In Book Club, we discussed the different effects the Ring had on each character that possessed it. We talked about why the Ring chose Bilbo, and why it didn’t really affect him as much as Frodo. We looked into why the Ring ditched Golem, and if it chose Bilbo, or was it an accident that it went to him. Finally, we talked about the absence of Tom Bombadil in the movie. We were all pretty bummed out that he didn’t get added.

Chris Struyk-Bonn

I have had a few jobs in my life that I didn't enjoy: detassling corn, working in a small motor parts factory, framing pictures, serving food, and rejecting bad eggs in an egg factory. Today, I take part in a book club for teens and I love every minute of it.